Cibolo's Walmart fight escalating

Updated 9:50 pm, Friday, August 9, 2013

Opponents of a Walmart Supercenter proposed on Borgfeld Road in Cibolo, having already targeted four City Council members for recall over the project, are opening a new front in their fight against the retail giant.

The Citizens for Cibolo group filed petitions Friday seeking passage of separate city ordinances that would bar the sale of alcohol and firearms within 300 feet of a church or school.

“We prefer to have our children safe rather than promote the profit of Walmart through the sale of those items,” said Andre Larkins, the group's spokesman.

The 22-acre site eyed for the 182,000-square-foot store is across Borgfeld Road from O.G. Wiederstein Elementary School and is flanked by the Everyday Christian Fellowship, a church on North Main Street.

If the petitions are deemed valid and the proposed ordinances aren't adopted by council, residents could vote on adopting the codes in the November election that's expected to include the proposed recall of council members Ron Pedde, Karen Hale, Larry Carlton and Steve Liparoto.

The terms of Mayor Jennifer Hartman and the two other council members expire in November.

Hartman, who is term-limited out of a re-election bid, doesn't sense a lot of public support for the recall effort. She said the targeted council members have requested hearings on the allegations against them, which will occur Aug. 19.

“People understand the council is doing the best job they can,” Hartman said.

The traffic the store will generate doesn't make the Borgfeld Road location an ideal spot, she said. But the council granted Walmart approval for its preliminary plat last month by a 6-1 vote, with Liparoto dissenting. So it may be grandfathered against distance requirements on the sale of guns or alcohol even if the city enacted them, Hartman said.

“It was zoned correctly. It was platted correctly,” Carlton said Friday. “As a council person, our position is to look out for the best interests of the city, not one subdivision or one household.”

Establishing distance requirements for alcohol sales has been discussed for years in the city of about 25,000 residents, which straddles the Guadalupe and Bexar county line. The City Council last month tabled a proposal to ban alcohol sales within 300 feet of a school, church or hospital.

“Some fellow council members thought it was a knee-jerk reaction (to the Walmart) and they wanted to look at it more,” said Liparoto, who proposed the measure. “With all the commercial growth we're seeing, this issue will come up again and again, so my idea was, let's just get it addressed once and for all.”

Although such measures could affect store profits, Walmart is pressing ahead with plans to buy the land from Krickhahn Etc Enterprises, LLC and open a 24-hour store there in 2015.

“We're committed to serving our customers and putting a store at this site,” Walmart spokesman Daniel Morales said Thursday.

The alcohol code and recall petitions, which accuse those targeted of incompetence in handling the Walmart issue, will be on the council's agenda Tuesday.

Some opponents are upset that they didn't learn until July that Walmart had picked the Borgfeld Road parcel around April from among potential store sites it considered in Cibolo.

“We're disenchanted with the lack of transparency at City Hall in general, and in particular on the Walmart issue,” Larkins said.

City Manager Robert Herrera said, “The city doesn't have a policy of going out and indicating to the public whatever development is coming to town.”

Besides collecting signatures on petitions, Larkins is also banking cash donations to fund an anticipated legal fight, if the project proceeds.

“If Walmart doesn't move of their own volition, one way or another we will end up in court,” he predicted.